Technical Field
The disclosed embodiments relate in general to user interfaces of computing devices and, more specifically, to systems and methods for selecting information on touch-sensitive screens.
Description of the Related Art
Text selection on touch-sensitive screens, especially small screens of mobile computing devices, such as cell phones, is still a frustrating experience for users. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional tap and hold text selection technique 100 implemented in many mobile devices on the market today. In accordance with this technique, a user of a mobile device 101 first selects a desired target word, such as a word 105 within a text 102 shown on a screen of a mobile device 101 by tapping on the target word. After the target word selection is made, the user adjusts the selection span by moving two needles 103 and 104 designating the text selection boundary. The selection boundary is adjusted (repositioned) by touching either of the needles 103 and 104 with a user's finger and dragging the finger across the screen of the mobile device 101. The described conventional technique is inconvenient and slow for several reasons. First, the selection is slow because users have to first identify the target word 105 and then carefully extend their text selection using needles 103 and 104 marking the beginning and the end of the selection. Second, in order to correctly select the target word from the text 102, the user needs to zoom in. After that, because the user does not see all the text 102, the user needs to zoom out in order to select additional portion of the text 102, as shown in FIG. 2. Third, the user's finger occludes the text 102, and the small magnifier 106 shown above the current text selection 105 does not provide enough context in many cases. Finally, the user typically has to hold the device 101 with one hand and carefully adjust (reposition) the selection end points 103 and 104 with her index finger of the other hand, which is inconvenient.
As it would be appreciated by those of skill in the art, while the described conventional text selection technique works and is suitable for infrequent text selections (e.g. copying a word), the aforesaid technique is frustratingly slow when more frequent text selections are needed such as when the user reads an article and needs to highlight important parts thereof. Therefore, the conventional content selection methods are deficient and new and improved techniques are needed.